Angels rookie Mike Trout has been at the top of the American League leaderboard in batting average since he accumulated enough at-bats to be eligible in late June. At times, his lead over the second-place hitter was as much as 25 or 30 points and becoming the third-youngest batting champion in major-league history (behind Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Ty Cobb) seemed a foregone conclusion.

Those days are gone. Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera has made a strong push to take away both Trout’s batting title and possibly his status as the frontrunner to win the AL MVP. Trout was hitless in four at-bats Wednesday, dropping his average to .330 (the lowest it has been since June 18). Cabrera, meanwhile, homered in his first at-bat against the Indians Wednesday night, moving (at least temporarily) ahead of Trout.

They ended the night technically tied at .330 but with Cabrera holding a fractional advantage — .330134 to .329764 — as the Tigers head to Anaheim for a weekend showdown between the two playoff hopefuls and MVP frontrunners.

“I don’t even look at it,” Trout said of the race for the AL batting championship.

But Trout has acknowledged earlier this season that a batting title is something he targets as a personal goal every year – he led the Midwest League and the Texas League in hitting during his quick stops there on the way to the big leagues – and set 100 runs scored as another individual goal this year. He leads the majors in that category as well with 108.

“It would mean a lot,” Trout said of winning a batting title as a rookie. “I’ll guess we’ll have to look at the end of the year.”

Cabrera erased Trout’s lead by batting .360 (40 for 111) since the start of August while Trout has batted .275 (38 for 138) in that time.

“Mike is incredibly energetic. He brings such a high level of energy to the game every day,” Angels GM Jerry Dipoto said. “But he has entered that zone where this is going to be the longest season where he has had to play pole-to-pole.

“They call these the dog days for a reason.”

Trout played his 134th game of the season Wednesday (including 20 in Triple-A) after a spring training in which he was limited by a virus and tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. With 25 games left in the regular season (and additional post-season games a possibility), the 21-year-old Trout has never played this much baseball in a year before.

“The bar was set so high that we’re talking about a month where he hit .290 as a lull,” Dipoto said. “If his accomplishments to date have created a standard where simply being really good can be considered a lull, we’re going to be okay.

“It’s good to see our offense has created enough diversity that we can still score runs when Mike doesn’t go 4 for 5 with four runs scored. … He’s going to go 0 for 4. Those days are inevitable. They come for everybody. The thing that really strikes me as startling for a 21-year-old – heck, for a 25-year-old or a 30-year-old – is the fact that he doesn’t wear it. He comes to the ballpark with the same energy every day. If he’s tired (from the long season), it’s tough to see it.

“I don’t think that (a batting title) is part of his focus. It would certainly be an accomplishment at his age. But I think I’m safe in saying that’s not what Mike’s thinking about when he gets out of bed in the morning. He’s thinking, ‘What can I do to help the team win?'”

DH DUTY

Albert Pujols made his ninth consecutive start at DH for the Angels Wednesday with no signs of a return to first base action any time soon – or any signs of improvement in his injured calf. Pujols has eight doubles in his past 17 games including one in each of five games through Wednesday. He has looked hobbled while legging out each one.

“The alternative is for Albert not to play — so we’re fine if he has to DH,” Scioscia said of the arrangement.

“You can see, as comfortable as he is in the batter’s box, (when he’s) running he’s laboring. But he knows what his presence means in our lineup and he’s going to play as much as he can.”

Pujols extended his hitting streak to 14 games Wednesday. Over his past 17 games (before and after the calf injury suffered August 22 in Boston), he is batting .357 (25 for 70) with five home runs, 13 runs scored and 17 RBI.

With Pujols limited and Mark Trumbo slumping, Kendrys Morales has started seven of the past nine games at first base – his most extensive defensive work since his ankle injury in May 2010.

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